Boys Basketball: La Salle stuns Neumann-Goretti, 65-62

SPRINGFIELD — Don’t call it revenge. Don’t call it a comeback. Don’t call it an upset.

“Do you believe in miracles?” rang over the loudspeakers as the La Salle Explorers defended their house in a stunning victory over Neumann-Goretti, 65-62.

But, don’t call it a miracle either.

It was a game nobody expected La Salle to win, and maybe that’s why they did. Down 10 at half, the Explorers seemed preordained to repeat the 29-point-loss they suffered at the hands of the Saints last year. But, this time, with a similar deficit coming into the third quarter, the Explorers came with intent to chip away and not let the visiting Saints escape them.

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“Last year they blew us out, but this time when we went ahead in the fourth, I knew we had this,” said senior guard, Amar Stukes, who lead all scorers with 26 points.

At halftime, La Salle Coach Joe Dempsey went to his players and said, “Look, we took a fastball and we’re only down 10, let’s get it to five at the quarter and see what we can do.”

The Explorers took his word and raised him one. Ryan Winslow scored the first two buckets for La Salle, followed by another from sparkplug, Alex Cuoci, and La Salle started to eke back into the contest. However, on a charged dunk by N-G center, John Davis, it seemed as though the Saints were looking to silence the student section once and for all. But, thanks to a pair of threes by senior shooter Steve Smith, the Explorers found new legs.

“Last year we were down (to N-G) at half, and they came out even stronger in the second,” Smith said. “But, as a senior starter this year, I knew I needed to pull my weight, because I couldn’t allow the game to go the same way as last time.”

“(Davis) really got his crowd going with that dunk,” said Stukes. “But we just brushed it off and kept playing.”

La Salle trailed Neumann-Goretti by four at the end of the third.

With 4:39 remaining in the fourth, La Salle held the briefest of leads at 51-49, but Neumann-Goretti’s junior star, Ja’Quan Newton, quickly tied it on the next possession. After a brief timeout, La Salle had three opportunities to move the ball up court, which were repeatedly stifled by N-G’s full-court press. On the second of such possessions, a jump ball was called in favor of La Salle, in which caused a calamity between the benches — with each team’s full coaching staffs charging the scorer’s table — to find the official ruling. A player on Neumann-Goretti’s team came frantic and wild-eyed to the nubile score keeper to defend the assertion that the possession had never shifted teams since the last jump. The tension was palpable. On La Salle’s resulting possession, they swiftly moved the ball up court and extended their lead to four points, a lead they never again relinquished.

Stukes scored ten of his 26 points in the fourth quarter. Much of the Neumann-Goretti’s attention was focused on Smith, who had 19 points and made six three-pointers, which allowed Stukes to do work in the open court.

“The threes from Steve kept their attention on him and allowed me to get the shots I wanted to take,” said Stukes.

“Steve’s been getting a lot of attention defensively, and some other guys have been benefitting from the space on the open floor,” said Dempsey.

“They’re great kids, we’re lucky to have them.”

At the conclusion, the raucous student section, who wore a smorgasbord of jerseys (one kid representing the Hartford Whalers) rushed the court and were led in cheer by Dempsey, who later said he was “embarrassed,” because it was “just another Catholic league win.”

“They’re a great program, a program in which every other Catholic League program measures themselves,” Dempsey said.

“But, it would be stupid to say that this isn’t special.”

With this win, La Salle breaks Neumann-Goretti’s streak of 73 consecutive wins in the Catholic League.

On Friday they play host to Roman Catholic High School, who now will certainly have their full attention.